Fans of Metal Gear Solid are used to the franchise pushing boundaries. With that said, the pending release of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes sparked some controversy when it received the ESRB's rarely given Sexual Violence warning. We recently had a chance to sit down with Hideo Kojima, the series creator and director, during a roundtable discussion. Kojima had this to say when asked why graphic and adult content were important to the franchise.

More than thinking about sensitive things, if we don't cross that line games will only be games. If we don't try and go beyond that, we won't be able to achieve what movies or novels have achieved. I didn't want to stay away from things that might have been considered sensitive.. But if we don't go that far, games will never be considered as [a part of] culture.

Kojima also spoke about the hit TV series Breaking Bad, citing the show's ability to push the limit in order to get their message across. He said that not all games have to go as far as Metal Gear Solid V does, but that it was necessary for the message he wanted to convey.

One of the main topics of Metal Gear Solid V is this chain of revenge. I know I will probably face a lot of criticism because of [the violence], but I really wanted to portray that accurately.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes will act as a prologue for The Phantom Pain's larger story, and is set to launch on March 18th. It will be available for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

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